1 Chronicles 12:6-16

6 Elkanah; Isshiah; Azarel; Joezer; Jashobeam; the Korahites;

7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.

8 There were some Gadites there who had defected to David at his wilderness fortress; they were seasoned and eager fighters who knew how to handle shield and spear. They were wild in appearance, like lions, but as agile as gazelles racing across the hills.

9 Ezer was the first, then Obadiah, Eliab,

10 Mishmannah, Jeremiah,

11 Attai, Eliel,

12 Johanan, Elzabad,

13 Jeremiah, and Macbannai - eleven of them.

14 These Gadites were the cream of the crop - any one of them was worth a hundred lesser men, and the best of them were worth a thousand.

15 They were the ones who crossed the Jordan when it was at flood stage in the first month, and put everyone in the lowlands to flight, both east and west.

16 There were also men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah who joined David in his wilderness fortress.

1 Chronicles 12:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 12

This chapter gives an account of those that came to David at different times, and joined and assisted him both before the death of Saul, and when persecuted by him, and after he was made king of Judah in Hebron, and before he was king of all Israel, in order to it; of the Benjaminites that came to him when at Ziklag, 1Ch 12:1-7 of the Gadites that came to him when in the hold, 1Ch 12:8-15 of some of Judah and Benjamin, who came to him in the same place, 1Ch 12:16-18, and of the Manassites at the time he came with the Philistines against Saul, 1Ch 12:19-22 and the number of the several tribes are given, that came to him at Hebron to make him king over all Israel, 1Ch 12:23-40.